From the Bookshelf of On The Same Page …

The Sanatorium (Detective Elin Warner, #1)

Sarah Pearse

Start date: March 1, 2022

Finish date: March 31, 2022

Discussion: Book Discussions

Why we're reading this: Poll winner of the March 2022 Moderator Recommendations.
[close] Poll winner of the March 2022 Moderator Recommendations.

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What Members Thought

Mar 05, 2021 Denise rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Oh Reese, I’m sure if I met you in “real life,” I would find you to be a lovely person, but I just have to put this out there - your book selections suck....

For the first twenty chapters or so, I thought this book might be a winner and there was no way the plot could go totally off the rails - then the first body is found and things went downhill faster than Andrew Cuomo's approval rating. By the end, I was thinking maybe I should check myself into a sanatorium for sticking with this book.

Let me Oh Reese, I’m sure if I met you in “real life,” I would find you to be a lovely person, but I just have to put this out there - your book selections suck....

For the first twenty chapters or so, I thought this book might be a winner and there was no way the plot could go totally off the rails - then the first body is found and things went downhill faster than Andrew Cuomo's approval rating. By the end, I was thinking maybe I should check myself into a sanatorium for sticking with this book.

Let me set the stage ... An imposing, former-sanatorium-turned-five-star-hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place that our protagonist, Elin Warner, wants to be. She is on a sort-of hiatus from her job as a UK detective though, so when her estranged brother, Isaac (whom she secretly suspects of killing their brother when they were young), and his fiancée (and Elin's former friend), Laure, invite Elin and her new boyfriend to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, she thinks it will be the perfect occasion to finally confront her brother about the death of their sibling - whatever could possibly go wrong with that plan?! When they arrive, a major winter storm (complete with avalanches, of course) is looming, and Elin immediately feels on edge. When Laure goes missing almost immediately, and the guests start panicking, Elin's detective instincts start to kick in. Then the bodies start piling up - literally - and it's up to Elin to figure out who is doing the killing and why.

Up until that point, my interest was somewhat peaked, and I thought the plot could be setting up for an interesting dynamic, but then Elin finds the first body in the pool. The woman's arms are bound and several of her fingers have been cut off, but Elin still seems confused as to whether it is an accident or not. Only when she finds a sandbag near the body does the lightbulb seem to go off - "Any lingering doubts she has are gone: a sudden, sharp jag of realization hits in her gut. This isn't an accident. She's been killed. This is murder." Seriously?! Because there are so many accidental pool drownings where the victim has missing fingers, and her arms tied behind her back ... And that is just par for the course when it comes to the bumbling detective work Elin does from that point on. I still held on to hope though that there would be some wild twist that would make the seemingly random body count make sense, but no such luck. When all is finally revealed, it felt like an old episode of Scooby-Doo, where the "pesky kids" pull off the disguise and have that jinkies! moment of fake shock at the villain's identity. It was just as corny, as the killer and the motive were weak and just not believable at all. Oh, and then there's an epilogue! I almost forgot to mention that - WTF was that about? If that was intended to be a tease for a sequel, count me out!

Overall, a lame plot, bad characters, and a tired setting made this a 2-star read for me. Many times I end a less-than-stellar review by saying "it might just be me;" but with this one I'm pretty confident stating it's not just me - this just isn't a great book. ...more

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Mar 31, 2021 Chris James added it

The Sanatorium is one of the creepiest books I've read in a quite a while. How could it possibly not be: A remote Alpine setting; a snow storm; an old, abandoned, medical clinic; and missing bodies!

I enjoyed Pearse's style and her ability to develop her characters and their stories without revealing everything all at one (or maybe not at all, really).

While I had a good inkling of what was coming towards the end, I totally did not see the actual ending! I can't wait to read her next book!

...more

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Feb 25, 2022 Aline rated it did not like it

Shelves: crime-mystery-thriller, owned

I started this book with really high expectations (maybe too high, to be honest). I was so sure this was going to be a good one. After all, a lot of readers loved it and it was a Reese's Book Club pick. But I ended up deeply disappointed.
And here are the major flaws that prevented me from enjoying this book properly:

1) First of all, this book is long. Like really long. Like too long to be enjoyable. A good half of it could be taken out and the core of the story would still make sense.

2) The rh ...more

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Dec 10, 2021 Cecilia rated it it was ok

This book was ok. I was really hoping for a little horror, some ghosts maybe? But it was a straight murder mystery and not a great one. I just wasn’t on the edge of my seat or very engaged.The character development was meh as well

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May 17, 2021 Lorraine rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, crime, thriller, horror, thriller-mystery, gothic

A good mystery, but a little too graphic for me.

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Mar 02, 2021 Candace rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks, az2-reeses-book-club

Meh...the last few Reese's book club books have not been great books. It seems like she is selecting future production projects and banking on built-in audience. This book makes the remote location part of the story, but the plot and characters do not make sense, especially the conflicts from the past being resolved here. ...more

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